Chapter 612 Hardships Part 1

"It's a success! The old Skinwalker armor would have been pierced and its barrier wasn't strong enough to protect my exposed limbs from the dagger's enchanted edge. If only both the armor and hammer weren't just a prototype!" Lith moaned.
He had used cyan mana crystals to make both hammers instead of blue ones, which meant that not only was the Skinwalker ugly to look at, but it also wasn't as powerful as it could have been.
"Yeah, right. Quit moaning and rejoice. Or at least take a break before working on Blood Forging another Skinwalker. There's a reason they are called experiments. We don't know if the blue crystal hammer will add new complications." Solus said.
"Also, I refuse to keep using WellMert hammers as their design."
Lith checked at his pocket watch. They still had a lot of time before going back to Belius. He took a quick shower and ate a ham sandwich to recover the lost strength. After half an hour, he was almost back to his peak condition, but used Invigoration nonetheless.
"It's the first time I use Bloom Forge, so everything must be perfect. I can't predict what will happen, but at least by being both mentally and physically at the top of my game, I can rule out tiredness as possible source of mistakes." Lith said.
The initial phase of the experiment was identical to Necro Forge. Bonding the chainmail to the mana crystal was easy, whereas what followed quickly turned into a nightmare.
Lith had to refine the ingredients one by one, creating from each one a small pseudo core. Condensing so much energy in such a small form required a lot of his focus, but he easily succeeded.
The first real problem arose when merging the first two pseudo cores. The mana pathways weren't strong enough to contain them both, so Lith had to expand the pathways while keeping the cores fused and fighting against the rejection effect.
With each core he added, the situation became more complicated. He had to strengthen the mana pathways, fix the deformities that appeared when the armor and the cores collided plus those which occurred during the pseudo cores' merging process.
To merge all four cores, it took him over an hour and much more slime goop than he had predicted since he had to consume some for each new pseudo core. Then, he was forced to stop, focusing only on stabilizing the mana pathways while the resonance between the Orichalcum and the cores made the latter grow.
'Dammit! If I miss their rhythm by a beat everything will go down the gutter. To make things worse, I also have to be careful that the cores don't get deformed beyond recognition. Bloom Forging a Skinwalker is a mammoth task straight from the beginning!' Lith thought.
Since they had no need for the hammer yet, Solus was free to help him to give the cores the rights shape. Then, the Forgemastering turned from a nightmare into a Lovecraft novel.
Despair, helplessness, and madness seemed its only possible ending.
Growing and fixing four pseudo cores at once, all the while adapting the mana pathways made Lith almost puke blood. Unlike what it happened when he crafted the Bloom Hammer, a small increase in the pseudo cores' size meant a fourfold increase in the pressure they exerted on the mana pathways.
The process was even slower than Lith had predicted, taking a further toll on his mind and mana. On top of that, every time the merged cores grew bigger, the Thunderbird's plume and the Orichalcum would interact again.
Soon Lith was forced to stop the Forgemastering, making it a failure and a success at the same time. A success because the Bloom Skinwalker was complete. A failure because Lith had been forced to halt the process before the pseudo core could become as big as the one of the Necro Skinwalker.
"What time is it?" Lith asked.
"Almost late. How do you feel?"
"Terrible. I never used Invigoration so many times in a row. It has almost no effect anymore." Lith said.
"I need some rest as well. Do you mind if I stay in Lutia? The mana geyser will help me recover quickly and I don't want to be your fifth wheel again." Solus asked.
"Are you sure? You know that I'm not planning for any lovey dovey stuff, right? Even if I wanted to, I'm too tired." Lith had got used to being separated from Solus, but he still hated the void that her absence left inside of his soul.
"Right. Just like yesterday and the day before." Solus's voice oozed sarcasm.
"I'm a healthy young man in a healthy relationship and it's been weeks since I spent a bit of time with Kamila. How could I turn her down?"
"You couldn't and you shouldn't, but that doesn't make it any easier on the fifth wheel. Me. I'll see if I get the girls to come visiting me, otherwise I'd rather spend some alone time working on Bloom Forge.
"We have one last chainmail suit. If we fail again, it means that our first estimate is correct and that at our level Bloom Forge isn't suitable for crafting so many pseudo cores at once."
Lith reluctantly accepted her decision. Solus was her own person and just like him, she deserved her own space.
When Kamila arrived home, Lith had just finished showering. He looked like someone who had just ended a double shift in a mine. His breath was short and his shoulders slouching from the fatigue.
"Hello, handsome. How was your day?" Kamila pretended not to notice, throwing her arms around his neck. She brimmed with joy.
"Safe but tiring."
"Are you ready to get out for dinner?"
"Won't you prefer to stay at home for some cuddles? You seem a bit- tired." She said.
"That's a nice way of saying that I look like crap, and yes, I would rather stay at home, but I can't afford to lose the reservation. I'll bring you to a family restaurant, so there's no need for fancy clothes."
Kamila wore a light blue shirt over a knee length black pencil skirt. Her long black hair was down. That together with her black eyeliner and light red lipstick emphasized her pale skin.
"Aren't those the same clothes you wore during our first date? It's not our anniversary, yet." Lith asked.
"I know, but now I consider them my lucky clothes, and I'm feeling pretty lucky recently." She said before giving him a passionate kiss. She was flattered that Lith remembered both the clothes and the date they had met.
Kamila was surprised when he brought her to Belius's Warp Gate. Lith wasn't the type to get too far for a meal. Her surprise became even bigger when the Gate led them to a private office in what looked like an ancient castle.
"Headmaster Marth, this is Kamila, my girlfriend. Kamila, this is Headmaster Marth, a man that I have the honor to call a friend."
Duke Marth had more grey hair than the last time Lith had seen him and seemed even more tired than Lith was.
"Nice to meet you, miss Kamila. Follow my advice and never get too high in life, or the paperwork will burn your wings and bury you alive!" A wave of his hand opened a Warp Steps that Lith forced her to cross before she could even understand where they were.